Genre guide

Latin music.
Rhythm that crosses every border.

Latin music is less a single genre than a vast, interconnected world - the music of Latin America and its diaspora, shaped by the meeting of Indigenous, African, and European traditions. It spans the swing of salsa and son, the romance of bolero, the drive of cumbia, and the global dominance of reggaeton and Latin pop. Rhythmic, expressive, and built for movement, Latin music has become one of the most streamed and influential sounds on earth - sung in Spanish and Portuguese and understood everywhere.

From the genre's founders to the names still being discovered.

The Software, the Housing Project, and the Beat That Broke Reggaeton Wide Open
Barrio Fino (2004) was built across two Puerto Rican studios by Daddy Yankee and Dominican production duo Luny Tunes, who used Fruity Loops software and Caribbean genre-blending to turn the dembow into a global sound. The album became the top-selling Latin record of the 2000s decade in the US and sent "Gasolina" to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2023.
Gloria Estefan Turned Inward on Mi Tierra and Found Her Best Work
Gloria Estefan's Mi Tierra (1993) drew its power from a deliberate retreat from the English-language mainstream into deep Cuban roots, recorded at Crescent Moon Studios with Cachao, Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, and Paquito D'Rivera, and built from bolero, son, and danzón. The album spent 58 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and 91 weeks atop the Billboard Tropical Albums chart, and won the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album.
Luis Miguel's Romance Gave a Generation Its Grandparents' Music Back
Luis Miguel's Romance (1991), produced by Armando Manzanero at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, revived the mid-century bolero tradition for a new generation of Latin listeners, becoming the first Spanish-language album by a non-crossover artist certified gold by the RIAA and spending 32 weeks at number one on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums chart.
How "DtMF" Quietly Became the Most Important Song in Latin Chart History
Bad Bunny's "DtMF," the title track and fourth single from his album "Debí Tirar Más Fotos," has set a new record with 57 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart, surpassing the 56-week reign of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber. The milestone arrives alongside Grammy Album of the Year wins at both the 68th Grammy Awards and the 26th Latin Grammy Awards, cementing the album as a landmark moment for Latin music.
Maluma's 'Loco x Volver' Is the Album He Had to Make to Survive Himself
Maluma's seventh studio album, Loco x Volver, released May 15, 2026, is a 14-track return to Colombian roots — vallenato, salsa, bambuco — driven by panic attacks, fatherhood, and a posthumous duet with the late Yeison Jiménez that gives the record its emotional center.